Warrior's Heart
by Vain Hydra
Summary: When the brothers return from a two-year study in Xing, they encounter something incredible: Two girls who can shapeshift so completely that they defy all reasonable logic. And with their assessments coming up, what are they going to do with these two strange women? Post-Brotherhood, slightly AU in that Ed still has his automail, and the boys are both in the military. EdxOC, AlxOC.
1. Prologue

Author's Note: This is a Fullmetal Alchemist/World of Darkness crossover, but the crossover part is more for plot device than is it truly a crossover. And the reason for this is because, essentially, this is a roleplay! Yep! This entire story is currently in progress as a roleplay between myself and a close friend, with the two shapeshifter characters being my characters. Most of the text is copy and pasted from the file I keep for the roleplay, but I have edited it some for continuity and ease of read (and grammar/spelling). I doubt anyone wants to read some of the repeated stuff that inevitably happens (at least for me) in one on one roleplays, haha.

Anyways, I wanted to share it because I for one enjoy it so much that we're actually probably going to _finish _the roleplay, and thus the story. This will likely be at least two or three parts long, though, because of the length of the roleplay (200k+ words currently, and we're only just finishing the first "arc" of our roleplay plans). Hopefully, people will enjoy this, even if they aren't fans of World of Darkness or do not know what that setting is. Because, ultimately, this is not a roleplay about that world-it's one about the Fullmetal Alchemist world. Also, I haven't played a Werewolf or Vampire game in ages, so some of my knowledge is a little rusty anyways.

Well, read and review (please)! Have a good day.

The One Time Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do not own the World of Darkness setting. I do, however, own Vanessa and Cinders as my characters-they're my originals, but I recreated them to fit within World of Darkness for the purpose of this roleplay/story.

Quick Dictionary

Bastet: Cat shapeshifter

Balam: Subspecies of Bastet; Jaguar

Mokole: 'Crocodile' shapeshifter; can take the form of dinosaurs, dragons, and the like if that is what they dream their form is

Wyrm, Wyld, Weaver: Three cosmic deities of the shapeshifter races. Basically; Wyld creates, Wyrm destroys, and Weaver binds

Garou: Wolf shapeshifter

Black Spiral Dancer: Clan of Garou who are corrupted by the Wyrm

Wallow: Mokole territory

Clutch: Mokole territory/family

Homid: Human form of shapeshifters

Crinos: Were-creature form of shapeshifters

Archid: Dragon, Dinosaur or Reptilian form of Mokole shapeshifters (I don't think I actually used this word, but I don't remember)

* * *

An angry roar rang out through the air, and the huge draconic-dinosaur like creature swiped her claws across the chest of a huge Black Spiral Dancer, the wolf's slavering jaws snapping and howling in its death throes. Vanessa's jaws parted open wide, and a gush of flame burst from between her teeth. She kept the flame going until she could no more, until many of the Garou around her were burnt down to crisps.

A wild yowl sounded beside her, and a fury of claws, teeth and black fur whirled about the battlefield. It was a dance of death, and Vanessa looked on gratefully as Cinders - named for the ash-gray into black tail, paws, and muzzle - whirled around, blood spinning around her.

It was not but seven hours ago that the Wyrm had attacked her clutch. The Bastet, Cinders, had arrived just a few short days ago from deeper in the jungle. A week ago, her clan of Balam had been slaughtered by the Dancers, and she had come to warn them. It was too late, though; they could not mobolize the other, closer clutches fast enough.

Vanessa had been researching as a shaman for the past six years. Once she had hit puberty at the age of thirteen, she had experienced the dream that showed her her shape, and then she transformed for the first time. The Mokole was born under the Shrouded Sun. She was of the Concealing. And so, she was one of those few who studied the spirits.

And lately...she had discovered something interesting. Something that was beyond even the Deep Umbra. No one believed her, but she was very close to a breakthrough. The Dragon had given her many gifts; flight, a long neck, tough claws, fire...

The ability to step sideways.

Recently, she had been experiencing flashes of the Deep Umbra. She did not know from who, or what. Vanessa had suspected that it was one of the greater powers that all shifters believed in. And as she suspected, she researched. Pouring her soul into it was the only thing she had done for six years.

What she had learned had scared her. The Wyrm's taint went further than just the flesh. It scarred the soul, the spirit. The most precious thing a shapeshifter had, and it corrupted the very lifeblood of her race and others. All shapeshifters had to worry about the Wyrm, even if the vampires and mages did not believe that they were real. But they were. They were.

The Bete's ultimate goal was to defeat the Wyrm, and to protect the world from the upcoming Apocalypse. If she could find a way to purify the souls, and prove to her kin that she had, then she could continue to work on a way to go even further than that. If they could correct the Weaver's insanity, and pull the Wyrm free from its corruption... Then they could stymie the Wyrm's effect, and they could prepare for the Apocalypse.

And if the Apocalypse was when the Wyrm gained enough power to overthrow the defenders of Gaia, and the world? Then, if they purified the Wyrm, they would also stop the Apocalypse.

"C-sss-inders!" The dragon roared, and the cat-woman looked over her shoulder before jumping up and backwards, landing next to the dragon. She gave Vanessa a strange glance.

"It ready?" The cat asked, flexing her claws. The Mokole had let her in on the plan, and the werecat had agreed to help the dragon. With a nod of that reptilian head, a strange, feral smile crept over Cinders' muzzle, and she grabbed the nearest Garou. Her claws crushed, and she held the struggling creature up.

With another yowl, she jumped up onto the roof of the largest building in the tiny Mokole village. A pattern was drawn onto the ground, an ancient alchemical array that Vanessa had discovered in her studies. With a growl, she slammed the struggling, Wyrm-tainted body into the middle of the circle.

Vanessa began to herd the Garou into the church building, the same one with the drawing on the roof. They followed her blindly, and she used her wings to buffet them around before launching into the air. The dragon spun backwards, and landed behind the confused Garou. She slammed the steel door shut as she flew out, and turned to seal the doors together with what flames she had left.

The dragon flexed her wings, growling and swinging her head up. With another, furious roar, she leapt into the air and onto the roof, and she snapped at the bestial face of the Garou which was still being held down by Cinders.

"Hurry up with this, drake." The cat growled, and Vanessa stamped forward, laying her massive talons over the struggling Dancer.

The dragon dug her talons into the stomach of the Garou. She did not kill him, but the creature was feeling the hurt. Remaining in her true form, she allowed the blood to seep over the array, and she began to channel her spiritual magic.

Cinders crouched to the side of the circle, and she flexed her claws before channeling her magic as well. They would sacrifice these souls and purify them, and maybe it will lead to the rebirth of new shifters who are not tainted.

The drawing on the ground began to glow with the combined spiritual magic of the two shapeshifters. Vanessa's cerulean orbs widened quickly as a large, black eye began to open up beneath the Garou. The howling below them escalated, and it fueled the two shapeshifters on to continue.

A bright light engulfed them, and the two shapeshifters howled in brief agony as they were...taken. Vanessa's eyes snapped open, and she peered around. Cinders was standing next to her, and they were both in their homid forms, completely dressed, free of the blood of the Garou they had just been fighting. They peered at each other in confusion.

A huge, ornately-decorated gate that looked to be made of steel was looming ominously before them. Cinders flexed her fingers before looking back to Vanessa. "What is this. Explain."

"I... I don't know, Cinders. I never saw anything like this in my visions. Where are all the Garou? I don't..." She inhaled sharply, and stepped up towards the door. She nor Cinders could make sense of the inscriptions carved on it, but when she got closer, she heard the distant howling of Garou on the other side.

"Take us home now," the werejaguar growled, quickly becoming agitated by this situation. She trusted Vanessa, but she looked as confused as the Balam felt. "It seems we were successful." As she approached the door, she could hear the howling as well.

"Does this mean that the souls are now purified...?" The dragon whispered, pressing her hand onto the door, and quickly recoiling at the coolness.

"Not quite, I'm afraid."

The voice was distorted, multiplied, the sound of many voices all speaking at once. It was faintly amused and condescending, as if was speaking to ignorant children.

There was someone - or _something _behind them. It was sitting down, legs crossed, palms on its knees, calm and unconcerned as you please, master of its domain. An incredibly strange creature, small and human-shaped, utterly featureless but for the wide, vicious grin on the bottom half of its face. It almost blended perfectly into the blank white surroundings, but for the odd black aura that marked it out, seeming to suck in the light and darken the shape's outline.

It was frankly unnerving, at best, to the most insensitive, and gave off a terrifyingly cold, effortless sense of _power_, at worst, to these two who were be able to feel it strongly.

"What?" Vanessa spun around, and gasped. Cinders siezed up, the power that the white form exuded making her bristle. Immediately, Vanessa narrowed her eyes at the whatever-it-was that was standing in front of her.

"My, my. You've created _such_ a mess for me to sort out."

It was difficult to tell, but by the tilt of its head it might be peering at the gargantuan ornate Gate, from wherein the howls of the sacrificed Garou could still be heard. Its head cocked slightly, and the two girls could _f__eel _its gaze on them as it stood, posture nonchalant, and looked at them steadily.

"Now, what am I going to do with the two of you, hmm? It's not ever day something so _interesting_ comes across my path. There are so many choices, with an offering like this..."

Cinders growled, narrowing her eyes. "And what the blue hell are you supposed to be?"

"Be respectful," the Mokole hissed, tossing her head in Cinders' direction. "It could very well be the Wyld. There is only one, and if it is, that means the other two are not here."

"I don't know, Vanessa... This seems...strange."

Vanessa spread her arms imploringly to the god-like being. "I have been studying for years, looking for a way to combat the Wyrm. Whether or not you know what that is is not my concern at this point. I merely wish the have them purified, and then returned to my home."

"Now wait a minute," Cinders stepped forward, and Vanessa shot her a cross look. "If it needs to "do" something with us, then perhaps we have made the wrong choice." She cocked her head.

"No!" The Mokole said, her conviction strong. "No..." This time, her voice was more unsure, and she looked at the god-thing curiously. "You speak of choices. What are you to do with us?"

"One question at a time, please," the creature chuckled, a short, chilling sound that wasn't pleasant at all.

"You ask what I am," it said, tilting its head at Cinders, and then at Vanessa. The grin widened impossibly. "And _you_ speak of the Wyrm and the Wyld. Let me tell you who I am, to clear up any confusion: I am what you might call the Truth, or the World, or the Universe, or perhaps God. I am All, and I am One... and I am also," it raised its finger to point at them, and the last word was spoken with relish, "_Y__ou_."

The two Bete looked at each curiously. The truth? The world, the universe? And that this creature, whatever it was, was ultimately them, as well? Cinders looked utterly confused, but a spark of understanding seemed to appear in Vanessa's eyes. The werejaguar narrowed her gaze on the Mokole, before snapping her eyes back to Truth.

"As for what I'll do with you... Well, you have brought quite a lot of payment with you, so I'll be generous. I won't even take anything from you... physically, anyway. You may find a few _differences _in how your cute little shapeshifting powers feel."

"Take...?" Cinders' back went ramrod straight when the creature began to speak again, and even Vanessa took a step back.

The grin split as it laughed, but there was nothing sincere about the sarcasm laced in that reverberating voice; it was't harming them, but they were going to loose everything they'd ever known, for their attempt to dabble in things they had no right to touch.

"There's no going back from here. I hope you enjoy what you've bought!"

An ominous creak echoed into the empty white world around them, joining the horrible laughter of the Truth as the great doors opened. Dozens of long, sinuous, inky black tentacle-hands darted from within like living ropes, and bound the two Bete, dragging them back into the black space, occupied by a single, otherwordly colorless eye.

As the door shut on them, the Truth was settling back into its favored pose, one leg curled under it and the other bent at the knee. It rested its arm on the bent knee, and placed its chin against its palm as it stared at the Gate. There was a thoughtful frown curving its only visible facial feature, as it considered the still-howling Garou that had been delivered to it.

"I think I know _just_ what to do with the leftovers... Those girls can take some of their _mess_ with them. They'll end up get _exactly_ what they originally wanted out of it, too. Well! Aren't I so generous today? Trans-dimensional travelers put me in a great mood!"

The distorted laughter rang and echoed around the empty void for a long time after that.

* * *

Cinders rebelled immediately, changing into her crinos form and roaring viciously, attempting to fight her way out of the grasp of the inky black tentacles, but to no avail. They held fast, and refused to let her go, fighting even when Vanessa shook her head at her companion for her to stop.

When the doors slammed shut behind them, the hands holding onto them vanished into the abyss, and they fell through an endless darkness. Sudden ribbons of light and sound and color, images and shapes and words flooded against the background of black, as a painful amount of information was crammed into their minds on their trip through the void.

Strange circular patterns with intricate designs and exactly what they meant and were meant to do were suddenly blooming in front of their eyes. Knowledge of chemicals and minerals and metals and gases were dumped endlessly into their minds, the very makeup of physical reality. The energy of life, that flowed through everything, that connected the body, mind and soul and how to access and harness it in themselves to understand, deconstruct and reconstruct the world through this knowledge suddenly lit up in their minds.

And then it ended, just like that. The whorl of information, the void, the falling, it all stopped - and quite suddenly, the girls were back on solid ground. Vanessa was staring up at the pre-dawn light, sprawled face-up in a patch of grass. Cinders was next to her, in crinos form, rubbing her head and growling. The Balam returned to her homid form, and frowned deeply at the fact that she now had no clothes.

"Well shit. Where did my clothes go? I... they were Rited! Goddamnit, spirit-portal." The girl sighed, and looked to Vanessa, who was pressing her hand to her mouth to hold in her laughter. "Yeah, yeah. Very funny. I'm going to go feline. Can you find me some clothes, please?"

She didn't have the chance to say no before she had a sulking black panther sitting next to her. The girl stood up, and looked around. They were on a road in a field, with trees dotting the view here and there. There was nothing else in site in any direction, though. Well...shit.

There was a hill to the north, though. Perhaps they should go that way and see what was on the other side. "This seems really rural...And we're not in the Amazon anymore." The cat rolled her eyes, as if saying '_no shit_'. They began to head up the hill, hoping to find out where they were. Vanessa was keen to play with her new knowledge, but they needed to orientate themselves first.

Cinders growled a bit as they climbed the steep hill, and she sighed in relief to find that there was what appeared to be a small building along the road. Vanessa smiled down at her, "Perhaps we just found a small, road-side hotel." The look the jaguar gave her made the dragon laugh, as she appeared to doubt that quite a bit.

As it turned out, it was a small family that offered a few guest rooms, as the nearest town was several miles off, and many people came by their house to rest for a night or two. They were kind, if a bit leery of the great black cat. Cinders had shown that she was docile enough, though, so the family allowed the two to stay the night.

Though not for free. Vanessa had explained that they had been traveling for quite some time, and was out of money (she had already deduced that Truth had dumped them somewhere else in the world). So she offered to do some work for them, and the family acquiesced. There was a river nearby, and they broke all of their lines and such, and Vanessa had revealed that she and Cinders would be able to supply them with some fish, and she could clean up around the place a bit.

Cinders and Vanessa sat in their room, talking quietly so as to not alert the family.

"Did you ask about clothes?" The werejaguar asked with a deadpanned look, wanting nothing else.

"No. I will ask about some fabrics tomorrow... I... Cinders, did you gain knowledge of something called alchemy?"

"Huh? Oh... Yeah. I did. I figured it was just some more interesting magics, and-"

"No, it's different. It's more...refined. I... Do you feel the Rage?"

Cinders stared at Vanessa, her eyes slowly widening as the lack of Rage began to dawn on her. "No... No! I can't- what happened!"

"Shh! Be quiet! We'll find more out later. But we need to figure out where we are. If we can get back to the Amazon, then we can find the other Mokole villages. And maybe other clans of Balam. We'll be fine, Cinders."

With that, Cinders returned to jaguar form and they went to sleep.

In the morning, they approached the family and said that they were going to go out to gather the fish for repayment, once Vanessa had finished cleaning up.

At the river, Cinders was fishing while Vanessa sorted through her new found knowledge. All that she seemed to know was whatever this alchemy was. It was scientific, she knew that much. And she also knew that both her and Cinders were now cut off from their spiritual components. This worried her, but she was not as depressed as Cinders was acting, only trying half as hard to actually catch some fish.

It was obvious that they kept their shapeshifting abilities. She had seen Cinders go through all of her forms with ease-hell, easier than before, even. And she could feel the dragon within her. So what had that god-thing at the Gate done to them? "Are we even on Earth?" Vanessa said quietly to herself, staring at the patch of dirt she was crouching over.

Without looking to see if anyone else was around them, and assuming that this was normal to do, she clapped her hands together and brought them to the ground. With a small crackle of light, the earth beneath her hands moved into the form of a small statue of a dragon, and she chuckled a bit.

So this alchemy... it rearranged the components of whatever she touched at an atomic level into what she wanted it to be. But it had to be something that made sense-much like a mage's magic, but more constricted. Less reality bending.

But when had something like this been developed? And why had they never seen anything like this before? While Cinders was not the most cultured of people out there, Vanessa had at least had some education about the world outside of the Amazon, and not just shapeshifter knowledge, as well. So...

What was going on?


	2. Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter

Author's Note: Decided to just upload the "real" first chapter an hour after the prologue... It's been awhile since I've done anything on this site-I've gone through like three different accounts, hah. And, I apologize in advance if its not always quite clear who's thinking what. It's a bit of a challenge to edit it into a story format without cutting out a lot of the meat of the actual roleplay. So, hopefully, I don't hurt any brains! :D

* * *

Even if it was considered the 'long way around,' taking the ocean and river canal waterways between Amestris and Xing were definitely the way to go if you weren't in a hurry. Travel between the two countries would become a lot easier once the railways were complete (now that all the arrangements were done between the two different administrations). Travel by boat was a hell of a lot more comfortable than by camelback over the desert, especially for automail users.

Said automail user was grasping the rails of the boat with both hands, grinning wildly, playful sea wind whipping his bangs and long ponytail back as they approached the port town of Welosl. It was the first sight he'd had of his home land in two years, and he'd never thought he'd miss it like this. He'd never been an overly patriotic sort by a long shot, and Xing had been wonderful - but it would be good to come back to a country where things were more familiar. And there was just _something _about the land you were born in that called to you; particularly if you had fought and bled for it like he had. Amestris herself was the closest thing he had to a physical home, especially what with all the traipsing back and forth across her land he'd done.

Zampano and Jerso were with them, as well. The four of them had gone to Xing together, the two chimeras somehow convinced that sticking with Alphonse would eventually lead them to gaining their original bodies back - and there had been something to that, as it turned out. The Elric brothers had taken to alkahestry like ducks to water over the two years they had spent as diplomats and traders of the arts, and the more fluid energy base and less strict laws of the Xingese power had combined well with alchemy after some configuration between them both, and allowed them to find a way to separate the two men from their animal halves. They were ecstatic, and would part ways with the Elrics in this town and find their ways back to their families.

The rolling plains and hills of South Amestris were within sight now, the sun's rising glow turning them burnished and molten, and Edward's grin slowly fell into a softer expression, a content smile. Even if that old goat Grumman had pressed him into staying with the military three years ago... He had to admit that even with everything else, it had a few good sides. Life was pretty spectacular right now, and had been for a while. He never would have seen himself here, when he was younger. He truly had so much to be grateful for.

"Ready to report in, Brother?"

Ah, and speaking of one of those very things... Edward's grin returned and he shot it over his shoulder at his younger brother as he approached, carrying a pair of suitcases. Ed turned and reached out to take his as he spoke.

"Nah, what's the rush? We've got two weeks before we're expected to show our faces in Central," he said, his expression deepening mischievously. "We can take our time." Which translated to, 'make a few dozen side trips and show up a couple of weeks late.'

Alphonse Elric had been in terrible shape when his body had been restored to him, but with a year of sensory readjustment (which had, for both of them, been a joy more than anything), rehabilitation and hard work, he had been close to normal, and healthy enough to become a State Alchemist (despite Ed's many protests and a rather severe argument) and travel to Xing with his brother. Now, two years later, even though Ed had two steel limbs, Al was taller than him by a good six or seven inches (much to his chagrin), and could still thoroughly kick his ass in nearly every sparring match.

Al sighed and mock-glared down at his brother, and Ed knew he would have crossed his arms if he'd had them both free. "You are so much _trouble_ sometimes, Brother. You know, our superiors would go easier on us if we actually did what we were _supposed_ to, on _time_."

Ed's grin never wavered, unbothered in the extreme by his sibling's scolding, as usual. Al genuinely _tried_ to be responsible enough to make up for his elder brother's ways, but underneath, he was just as adventurous, if not quite as rebellious, and didn't care nearly as much as he pretended to. "That won't stop you from doing the same, and you know it. Besides, someone's got to keep them on their toes, and we're so good at it!"

Al sent him a sideways, faintly admonishing smile, acquiescing the point and making his own without saying a word.

It was around twenty minutes later when the ship docked and the passengers disembarked. The Elrics said cheerful good-byes to their former chimera friends, who promised to send word of how things went with their reunions (mostly for Al), and they split up.

Welosl was a decently sized river town just inside Amestris' border, fairly populous and clean. It was like most of the sprawling plains towns and cities in the deeper south and south-east, a close-knit and generally friendly community, where life passed at a steady beat.

The docks were at the edge of the town, and Edward cast a thoughtful look at the road. "Do you think we should take a train, or go on foot?"

They could get off on all the stops they wanted by train, but... it would be nice to be able to move at their own pace, for little while, even if it would take a lot longer. They hadn't been _vacationing_ in Xing, after all, and it had been three years since they were really out and about in Amestrian public. They'd grown quite a bit, and they might not be recognized so easily, especially with their plain clothes. The trademarks of Ed's old assemble and Al's armor had been major identifiers. Their distinctive eyes were a bit of a giveaway, but nothing drastic enough to worry about giving them away before they were known again.

"As long as we keep a steady pace and make it back in two weeks, I don't mind," Al reminded him pointedly.

Edward snorted and narrowed his eyes tauntingly. "Tell you what - I'll race you, and if you can catch me we'll do things your way!" And without another word, he'd slung his suitcase over his shoulder to brace it, and was dashing down the worn roads that lead further and further out of town.

"Brother!" Al groaned, but he saved any further breath and took off, his own bright eyes mirroring the challenge in Ed's and joining the fun.

Edward was now physically the adult he had been forced to be mentally since he was so young, but now more than ever, there were moments when he seemed to be a kid again.

He was really just taking the time to enjoy life. He had put much of his own on hold, once his younger brother had been frozen into armor, so they had experienced some of the same things together in these past three years. The long, hard journey they had been on had been a large factor, but Al knew a lot of it had been done on purpose by Ed, and he was equally exasperated and touched by it.

Edward, with a bit of good old fashioned alchemy and sneakery, managed to win the race. Or arguably so, anyway, and the two of them bickered back and forth about it even as they trod down the path.

They spent the day walking leisurely, chatting when something came to mind, but otherwise merely enjoying the calm scenery and company. They ate the various snacks packed away in their cases and slept under a small grove of trees dotted on the mostly grassy terrain, and in the morning they headed out in a direction that Edward vaguely remembered a town being in somewhere.

Luckily, around lunch time (when they were out of food and would have had to hunt some up) they came to a river, one of the splits that ran off the much larger one around Welosl.

"All right, fish!" Ed rubbed his palms together, glancing around for something to transmute into a rod, or a spear, but before he found anything, there was a familiar flash of light up ahead, around the river bend, which went around a smallish hill.

They shared a curious glance, and abandoned their quest for lunch momentarily.

They rounded the bend at a jog, and came to a slow halt at the sight of a girl with brilliant red hair, on the ground in front of a transmuted statue, and a huge, strange black cat. The cat was fishing, oddly enough, and Al did a double-take when he saw it, and not just because of the sight of a wild cat.

His sixth sense, the ability to read the Dragon's Pulse and sense chi, was very sharp. It was sharper than Ed's, perhaps because of his unique ability with souls. Ed wasn't always paying attention to his own ability, letting it run in the background of his mind and give him a general outlook of the locations of people around him, but Al's ran much deeper than that even on low-key.

These two... Well, first of all, the cat wasn't even actually a _cat_, for whatever reason - was it a chimera of some kind, or was it a person with a soul in a body not their own, like he had been? Whatever the case, both of them felt... _different_, very much so, and in a way that was very difficult to describe. Everyone felt the same at their core, no matter their nationality; Ishvalan, Amestrian, Xingese... but these two were _off_ on a fundamental level. What did that even mean?

Al slid a look at his brother, who was giving the cat an odd look as well, but didn't appear to have noticed that unreal _difference_.

"Um, excuse us," Alphonse greeted with a friendly wave, none of his inner confusion showing on his face. "Hello. My Brother and I saw the transmutation light, and we were curious..."

The redhead jerked a bit, before glancing upwards. She knocked down the dirt dragon, and stood up, dusting off her strange clothing before giving the brothers a soft smile. "Curious? Mm...yes, I suppose you would be." The jaguar looked up, a fish flopping around in her mouth. She turned, spitting it out onto the pile that she had accumulated and then went to go sit by the girl's side.

"Hm... Do you want to join us? I'm about to gather them up and take these back to the family that let us board for the night. We have enough for them and for us." She glanced back at the fish. There was a nice little pile, and she did not want to keep the family waiting too much longer. The panther hung her head and sighed at her companion as she plucked at her shirt.

This girl was... _weird_, all around, not even counting the feel of her soul. Her hair, her clothes, her attitude toward total strangers... Not that these rural areas were high in crime rates, but it had been known to happen. She was utterly unconcerned, or perhaps too kind.

She turned away from them for a moment, digging into a backpack and pulled out a canvas bag. Then she piled the fish in there, and lifted up the bag. As heavy as the bag of fish looked, she seemed to be able to shoulder it without much trouble. With a twitch of its nose, the panther started to pad after the woman as she gestured towards where the house was.

The brothers thanked her for the offer of a meal, and followed them back to the large house, staying a little ways behind. Alphonse caught Ed's eye and jerked his head at their backs, eyes widening a little, and Edward blinked and took the hint, opening his ability to sense chi further. His own identical golden gaze went wide before he could stop it, and he shot a startled look back at Al.

The only thing they had ever heard of feeling different than normal people were homunculi, but _that_ was whole 'nother story, and feeling, by the way Ling and May had told it, than this was. What the hell did this mean?

Not even chimera had any different 'flavor' to their soul, because they were bonded to their animal on a physical level, their bodies and minds (the animal instinct) blended into one, assuming the transmutation was pulled off correctly. There was only ever one soul, either animal or human, whichever won out in the end, because it was impossible for them to be blended. Even the souls in a philosopher's stone never blended together; they always constantly fought each other in a desperate attempt to retain who they were (except in the unique case of Hohenheim).

* * *

When they got to the house, the woman deposited the bag of fish on the table and the elderly woman smiled. "Thank you, young lady. I will admit, my son was worried you and your kitty would just run off."

With a smile, she hook her head. "No ma'am. I repay my debts."

The woman chuckled, and called a couple of her sons in to haul off the fish to have them descaled and put away, and she toddled off to have them cooked. "You can stick around for lunch. Oh, and I sat out some fabrics for you as well, Vanessa. You did mention that you'd be needing some clothes, no?"

Vanessa smiled and thanked the old woman, and waited for them to leave the room, before turning to the table of fabrics. Cinders looked up at her expectantly, and the woman chuckled before picking up a few of the fabrics. She picked out only the most durable, and set them aside before using her new-found knowledge of alchemy to create some clothes.

She clapped her hands together, and sat them on the clothes, creating a few different sets of clothing. Some of them appeared to have been in a different size than her, but she gathered them up and stuffed them in the backpack before anyone could really get a good look.

* * *

They sped up as they neared the house and came in a little behind the girl and her big cat, just in time to see the elderly lady leave for the kitchen, and see the redhead turn to a table covered with various fabrics.

And then she used a very familiar gesture: she clapped and transmuted the fabrics.

And even as Ed spluttered, "What the hell?" and Al's jaw dropped open in surprise, at least part of this mystery suddenly clicked and made sense. What felt like a human soul, bound to an animal - and a girl who could use her own body as an array to perform alchemy. It was eerily alike to what had happened to them.

The only question was, what the _hell_ was up with their souls? Was it a side effect of some kind, from human transmutation? Had _that_ been part of what the Gate had taken from them? No, not quite. Their souls did not feel broken or damaged in any way. Alphonse had had the misfortune of meeting a person like that once. Hmm. What _had_ been taken from them? The girl seemed perfectly all right, physically. But then, so had Teacher...

And they had to have committed the taboo within the last three years, too, otherwise Father would have known about them.

"You're an alchemist, right?" Al began before Ed could, his voice hesitant and lightly curious as he moved further into the room, and Ed crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, eyes narrowed. "But how can you use alchemy without an array?"

Even Edward wouldn't be rude enough to come out and ask, 'When did you use human transmutation?' though he had no doubt whatever his brother had been about to say would have been abrasive and probably provocative. Al's choice of words were more round-about, but were much more likely to lead to a peaceful conversation, rather than a brawl; there was no telling what this girl was capable of, if she had been able to use human transmutation and live. Not to mention that cat, whoever it was to her, was quite likely to jump in as well.

The girl paused, and looked over her shoulder at them. Her bright eyes peered unblinkingly at them, almost like a snake or other sort of reptile might stare. In her mind, she quickly connected the dots: alchemy was not supposed to be performed without the arrays under normal circumstances. So her clapping (that was still so strange to her, but she was adapting quickly enough) was 'strange'. Cinders peered up at her, a worried spark to her gaze, before she sighed and rubbed her paw over her nose.

"I am," she said quietly, turning to face them. How naive she had been, really. And right then, Vanessa knew that she would be getting her ear chewed off by Cinders later for being so reckless, without finding out more about the area they were in. "In a manner of speaking. I am a shaman from the Amazon." Perhaps that would soothe them-they had to have heard of the Amazon, right?

A... shaman? From the Amazon?

Neither of the boys could correlate 'shamanism' with 'alchemy' in their heads, nor had they heard of the Amazon, and that was saying something. They had only ever been to two countries, but they had made extensive plans for the future, should they be continuing in their travel-research capacity for the military, and they had never heard of any place called 'Amazon.'

Vanessa crossed her arms, appearing thoughtful. How much should she tell them? As she looked back up to speak, the elderly lady came back into the room with some lightly seared fish (as Vanessa had earlier requested), cooked enough to not be toxic, but still nearly raw. She smiled at all the guests, and sat the meal down on the table. "Eat up, young ones."

There were a few other things, as well; various vegetables and greens and cooked rice, and Vanessa sighed gratefully. They had not eaten last night, and though she could go a few days without feeling hunger, she was run down. So they sat to eat, with the old lady still lingering in the room.

Once they had finished (with Cinders eating a vast majority of the fish that had been set aside for her and Vanessa), the dragon stood, thanking the woman for her hospitality before picking their bag up and leaving.

The brothers gave their own words of appreciation for the hospitality and left as the girl and her cat did.

Al eyed the cat admiringly as they started down the path. However strange these two were... Well, whover the cat was, her soul had been bound to a beautiful body. And one that could eat, and sleep, and feel, as well, even if it couldn't speak or handle battle as infallibly as his armor. Plus, she was a _cat_, and a big and powerful one. She was lucky.

"So... where is this 'Amazon' place?" Ed inquired, striding to walk beside the 'shaman', crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow at her. "I've never heard of it."

It _could_ be a name her particular race had for wherever she was from, but somehow, he doubted it. And who the hell besides backwater morons confused alchemy for anything mystical? She didn't really seem like the easily duped fanatical religious type, so far, so... was that just her excuse for passing off alchemy without an array?

Cinders paused, looking up Edward strangely. If she were in her human form, Vanessa had no doubt that she would be calling him any number of names right about now. The red-headed girl pulled her hood down, and brushed her hair from her face. "It's in South America, of course. Haven't you ever..." She stopped as Cinders butted her head across Vanessa's leg, and the shaman frowned deeply.

They stopped, and looked at the two brothers. "What country are we in? We're a long way from home, and we haven't a map." Vanessa had not been born in the tiny village she called her home; she had received a proper education while growing up in one of the larger cities in Brazil. These two young men seemed educated, themselves, so why would they not know what the Amazon is?

Edward and Alphonse stopped as well, both of them giving her odd looks. This was not adding up right, somehow.

"South America?" Alphonse repeated the name, shaking his head. "There's no such country."

"You're in the southern region of Amestris, very near to the border," Edward added, his eyebrow lowering into a frown. "Not far from Welosl, though we're probably closer to somewhere halfway between Resit and Fenief, by now. South City is to the east, still a couple of days away on foot."

Cinders stood still, blinking, and Vanessa's arms were crossed as her brow furrowed deeper. Neither of them had ever heard of a country called Amestris. Even those who were uneducated would have heard of South America, even if they did not necessarily know where it was.

Well, this was turning out to be extremely interesting. Had the god-thing pushed them through the portal into another world entirely? Cinders would not believe it, but Vanessa was more open to the idea. But why would it? She did not understand. "Well... shit." The girl sighed, rubbing the back of her head.

Well, there was no sense in hiding it. "We were attacked," she said, looking away from the boys. "I'm not lying when I said we come from a place called the Amazon. It's a great rainforest. Me and Cinders performed a cleansing ritual on those who attacked us. I _am_ a shaman, and I dealt with the spirits." And now that she thought about it... She could not remember any of the finer details of her magic.

Her eyes widened at this realization. "I had been researching an ancient alchemical spell before the attack. Whatever it was, it sent the both of us into this white...void..." She narrowed her eyes. They probably would not believe her, but that did not matter to her. Vanessa wanted to get to the bottom of this whole mess now.

And they would not have believe her, and her crazy, incredible, outlandish tale - except... There were pieces of this new story that fit _so_-well, it made more sense than anything else.

The undeniable fact that their souls did not feel like they should, if they belonged here; the ability to transmute without an array; the human soul in a cat's body; the mention of spirits, an ancient alchemical ritual, and a white void...

Ed felt like something in his head was tilting sideways as he tried to wrap it around this. A part of his mind was trying, without much success, to divise exactly what kind of array would draw the Gate forth and make it send you - elsewhere. To another time? Another world? Because that was what this girl was implying. And if it had taken the spirits she had intended to cleanse as a sacrifice instead, well. That _was_ the kind of power it would need.

There was a stretch of utter silence, as the men considered her soberly, then shared a glance.

"I... I think we believe you," Alphonse said at last, slowly, as they looked at her. "There are too many things about you that don't make sense, but then they _do_, if we take into account what you just told us."

"We have to ask, though - are you human?" Edward asked directly, with his trademark bluntness. "Because you don't feel like anyone else we've ever met. Both of you," he added, his bright golden eyes sharply switching to Cinders.

The two Bete peered at each other, and suddenly Vanessa laughed. "Well, if there was no way to prove to you before that we speak the truth, this will certainly do it. We are human, kind of. But not human, as well. In the same way that Cinders is a panther, and not a panther."

And they both had felt the disconnection between their souls and Gaia. There was no Gaia on this planet, not the way they knew Her. But they had kept their gifts of shapechanging, and Vanessa kept her memory-that was already encoded into her very being. Cinders looked unhappy with what Vanessa said, but they were both very powerful. Vanessa assumed they would be able to take care of themselves should these two freak out.

That, and she wanted to test and see if the change had the same effect on them as they do on humans back home.

And it was with that, Cinders stepped forward and began to grow. Her form grew more and more frightening, though she stayed in one space. The process of going from simple black panther into a huge, sabre-toothed dire panther was a quick one, and then from that into her crinos form was just as quick.

Before the two boys (and Vanessa had looked around them; the house was out of sight now, and there were no other travelers) Cinders had gone from large jungle cat to nine foot tall cat-human-beast. The process would destroy everything they knew about their world's science; even perfect chimeras kept close to the same mass when they transformed. Even Envy's transformation had been an illusion, and not on a physical level like Cinders' was.

Both brothers observed with pure astonishment as Cinders transformed, her body shifting fluidly into several different shapes, defying everything they knew about how chimeras were created, and tossing the soul-bound theory Al had been considering out the window.

She crouched down so as to not appear as imposing as she would have, and she held out her paw.

Al's eyes were shining with wonder as Cinders held out her paw in a calming gesture, which was really unnecessary; he stepped forward and took it without hesitation, examining the texture of her fur, the large padded palm and clawed fingers with admiration. Ed's lips twitched into a small smile even through his shock; of -_course_- Al would be fascinated by a feline shapeshifting creature from another world.

"I am Balam, prideful werejaguar of the Amazon. And Vanessa is Mokole. She is of the dragon."

He let go after Cinders introduced the two of them.

"Nice to meet you, Vanessa and Cinders," Al said with a bright smile. "I'm Alphonse Elric."

"And I'm Edward, his older brother," Ed put in.

The girl nodded at them, then turned to look at Cinders. "We are cut off from Her, Cinders. I... don't know what to do with this knowledge." The great black werecat sighed, sinking her head, before she held her paw out.

"Give me the backpack. I will be back."

Vanessa pulled the bag from her back, and dropped it into the outstretched palm of the werecat. With a grunt, Cinders stood and walked away from the road to a small copse of trees.

And then Vanessa began to explain a little more when Cinders returned in human form, her skin so dark they would have suspected her of partial Ishvalan heritage if they hadn't known better. Her hair and eyes were also dark, and she was wearing one of the outfits that Vanessa had made; nothing more than simple travelers clothes, not too fancy. They were however baggy enough that they would not shred if she transformed up to her half-human form.

"Whether you believe this part or not, we were part of a race of shapeshifters that are supposed to guard Her-Gaia, the Earth Mother. And magic is quite real where we are from, not unlike this alchemy the god-creature from the white void gave us knowledge of, though less restrictive. I am-was-a shaman. I could commune with the spirits, and perform spiritual rituals."

It appeared that the Truth had changed things for them, despite the sacrifices it had likely taken. They mentioned being cut off from 'Her' and it seemed like their magic had been swapped for alchemy, which only made sense. Different world, different rules. And the Truth had probably done that and anything else it had thought of through its usual smokescreen of 'teaching lessons,' but was really just being an asshat, a role it seemed to enjoy so much. At least they were all right physically.

This... everything Vanessa was telling them, short a summary as it was, was difficult to swallow. It just didn't fit (a dragon?! Damn, if they'd thought Cinders' transformation was illogical...) in their science-oriented minds, or with the experiences that they had gone through, but... What must this be like for the girls? They had been landed in a world polar opposite from their own in the power than influenced things, and further still it seemed that the lands themselves were entirely different. They were probably even more confused than he and Al, and had very little to go on.

Well, part of that needed to be rectified immediately, if they were going around telling random people this information, which was startling, and damning if it fell into the wrong hands. Say, the military's. He knew they had no idea of what this world was like, but really, would some caution be too much to ask for? They'd barely known each other for two hours.

"I don't know why you're so freely sharing your story with us," Edward began curtly, "but you're lucky it _was_ us. We're two of the only four alchemists in the world who would have believed you so quickly."

"Because," Cinders said, handing the backpack to Vanessa. "We're sharper than you give us credit for. Why react with shock to Vanessa being able to transmute with her bare hands? Moreso than, 'oh that's strange.' You had reacted as if you had known _why _we could do that."

"We haven't told anyone else," Vanessa spoke up. "We only just arrived yesterday morning. The only things we've seen is trees, grass, the house and its family...and you two."

Cinders crossed her arms, and shifted her weight to one leg, narrowing her eyes. Vanessa nodded knowingly; they may be young, but they were far from inexperienced. And it was on an instinctual level that they felt like they could trust these two men. Not only a woman's intuition, but also the wisdom of a cat and an ancient reptile.

"Besides," Cinders quirked a toothy smile. "If it came to a fight, sudden transformation from girl to beast would likely surprise anyone long enough for us to escape. Or do some damage, should they recover quickly enough. Hell, even in our own world, we live a secret life away from humanity."

Edward nodded, and addressed that they held the same power for the first time, and to demonstrate, he clapped his hands together sharply, then bent and touched them to the ground. He pulled a small, decorative stone and iron dagger up out of the earth, and snatched the hilt up and flipped it expertly, so it landed in his palm, blade held defensively.

"We've seen that white space with the Gate and met the Truth as well, though under different circumstances than you," Alphonse explained quietly, calmly. "Anyone who has the ability to transmute with their bare hands has been inside that Gate. We're aware of some of what the Truth may be capable of, and sending people traveling across worlds is surely well within its reach, with the right price..." He trailed off sadly and shifted his weight uneasily before finishing as gently and honestly as he could. "I don't know what may have happened to the spirits you were trying to purify, but it's most likely that they were taken as payment. I don't know what the Truth would have done with them after that."

They watched with fascination as Edward clapped his hands together and created a weapon from the earth. When they spoke again, Vanessa growled. "There were upwards of forty creatures within the circle. Would that have been enough for this Truth creature to send two shapeshifters through the portal? But why?" The dragon sighed, scrubbing her palms over her face.

"Forty!" Al exclaimed on a sharp breath, and Ed gave a low growl, fists clenching.

"We will probably never understand the way that jackass's cosmic scales work," Ed ground out, frustrated. "It deals in harsh lessons, but this..." Forty lives, dragged through the Gate with intent to help. And where had they gone? What had been _done_ with them? What had been given in exchange?

"Harsh lessons indeed!" The dragon-girl snorted. "The intent was to help the poor souls tainted by the Wyrm, and we get stuck in a foreign world." It made her mad just thinking about it. She and Cinders would eventually try to find a way home. But if it took forty or so souls to get them between worlds, how many more would it take to get them back?

As if Cinders guessed her line of thought, she set her palm on her friend's shoulder. "We couldn't possibly sacrifice innocent lives to get back home, Van. I doubt that the people here have to suffer under a taint like the Wyrm's for us to try and purify. ...Not that I would want to try that again, anyways. It led only to strange things." As sad as it may be, they may be stuck here indefinitely. And what else could they offer to Truth but souls? Their spirituality when they returned? They would be nothing, then.

He sighed and unclenched his fists, glancing over to meet Alphonse's troubled gaze. What now, was the question.

Technically, as good Amestrian dogs, they should report this incident to the military. They'd take the girls in with them for further questioning and study, just for having passed through the Gate successfully, for being from another world. While that process would admittedly be much more fair on them now than it would have been under the previous Fuhrer's reign... It was still not something either of them would be comfortable with, and there was not a single good reason to be found anywhere for such a betrayal of freedoms.

And if they were discovered as shapeshifters? Edward wasn't entirely sure what would happen, but he knew it was not likely to be in their favor; the Amestrian military had always been, above all, a force of destruction and ruthlessly efficient in collecting assets, and only three years under Grumman's command was not likely to have changed that mentality much under the surface. He did not trust any of the Generals in power at all aside from Mustang (but he'd never tell the insufferable bastard that) and his small team of men in the East, and the people at Briggs under Major General Armstrong in the North. He preferred to just stay away from Central (aside from use of the library) whenever possible, which was usually easy enough, as they were both still officially under Mustang's command.

Well, screw the military.

Neither of them had ever been _well trained _dogs, anyway.

"I think the first order of business is to get to South City," Edward said briskly, inwardly mourning that his sneakily planned vacation was over before it started. They already had a mission, unofficial as it was. But what else could they do with a pair of world-hoppers but help out? Besides, Al would beat his ass into the ground if tried to leave them without assistance. "We can tell you a few basic things about this country and answer some of your questions on the way."

The girls snapped to attention again when Edward spoke of going to somewhere called South City, and Vanessa crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Well...okay then." Inwardly, she wondered how this might turn out. What sort of things were going to be in store for them?

Alphonse grinned a little at Ed's to-the-point mannerisms, skipping past all the usual polite exchange of 'do you want our help?' and 'yes, thank you.' It was all right, though. It had pretty much already been decided, he supposed. The girls had told them so much, and they _were_, conveniently, the only ones around with the same style of alchemy...

It was just strange, to have this situation suddenly placed on their shoulders with so little fanfare. But, no stranger than anything _else_ they'd ever done, only a _different _sort of strange, which was probably why they were so calm about it.


	3. Chapter 2: Decision

Cinders pulled away from her, and grinned at the two boys. "So I suppose this is the start of something very, very interesting, then. It's a shame we're no longer half-spirits, eh Vanessa?"

"Hah, yeah. I still have my Memory though." She peered at Cinders pointedly, and the cat nodded knowingly. "Which is odd...fat lot of good the Mnesis is going to do me here."

Ed took a moment to bend down and alchemize the dagger back into the road before they started down it. He gave Cinders and Vanessa a curious look, gaze switching between them as they spoke, at the mentions of no longer being half-spirit, and memory... mnesis?

"What are you talking about?" He asked, sliding his hands into his pockets and glancing at Al, who shrugged. Maybe these two had a few things to teach them, as well, even if it was only knowledge and no longer useful to them here. It could be interesting for a conversational topic, at the least.

"Mmm," Vanessa appeared thoughtful, and the two girls took their places on either side of the brothers. Vanessa to Edward's, and Cinders to Alphonse's. "All shapeshifters are half-spirit. On our world, there is something called the Umbra. It is a spiritual overlay of our world, and extends out past the moon, as far as we are aware. When a possible shapeshifter is born a spirit attaches to it. This is what allows us to shapeshift. This also connected us to the Umbra."

Cinders nodded, and threw her arms behind her head. "We've began to realize that we can not feel our shapeshifting spirit. But we can still shapeshift. I think that whatever that freaky little thing did, it fused our spirit into our beings. So we're still who we are, but without all of the attachments that this entails. Gaia created the various shapeshifting races as means to protect the world, and Luna-the spirit of the moon-gifted us further. We no longer feel the Rage that Luna gifted us..."

"I wonder if that means we are..." the girls shared a look between them, and the jaguar shrugged. If they were still weak to silver (and gold in Vanessa's case), then they would find out later.

"Anyways," Vanessa continued. "Mnesis is a Mokole-unique genetic ability to remember into the distant past. Some Mokole have even been known to remember all the way back into prehistoric times. But, as I said...that doesn't do me much good here. There were no Mokole here before now, as far as I am aware."

Cinders sighed, brushing her fingers through her hair. It was something else to realize that you were very likely the only Bastet on the entire planet. This was... not going to be a very good journey.

Edward and Alphonse listened attentively, if a tad disbelievingly, at the bit of information of how their world had worked. Ed even pressed the fingertips of his flesh hand into his forehead as he tried to imagine a world with magic, spirits and spirit worlds, and gods. It just didn't compute. Truth was difficult enough to handle; at least it worked on alchemic principles, whatever it was. And magic, over alchemy? Hell no. Alchemy at least made _sense_.

The Mnesis, though... The brothers shared a quick, unsettled look at that, knowing that they were thinking the same strange, almost aching thoughts about the idea of a genetic memory. They had wondered, now and then, even discussed it once or twice in Xing on quiet days... How could they not think about it?

Hohenheim hadn't given them much to go on about the ancient civilization of Xerxes, as there hadn't been any time to talk seriously about such things (even if Ed would have, back then). Al had spent a little more time with him, in Liore, but most of it had been used on planning and preperations for the Promised Day. The only reference they had of what their race would have been like (aside from the faces they saw in the mirror) were the horrible, haunting, skeletal fascimilies that Father had cruelly taunted them with, and the single tragic piece of history that Hohenheim had shared with them.

What would it be like, to have the history of their blood kin within such easy reach? They had each other and they had quite a few friends, and that was more than enough, but they hadn't known for a long time (and might not for a long time yet) what it felt like to _belong_ to an actual physical _place_, where they had roots and ties and history. Resembool wasn't ever going to be an option, after everything that had happened there...

They didn't _need_ these things, not now, after they had been through so much, and they had more or less created their own extended family. And they did truly enjoy the constant movement of the life they lead. But to know, would have been...

"You should cherish it, whether it's accurate for this world or not," Alphonse said, softly, as the brothers focused back on the road after only a moment. "It's history that is important to who you are. It's priceless, even if only to you."

Edward said nothing, his expression neutral, so Al cleared his throat and moved on quickly. "As for your spirits, we can both sense that kind of thing. I would have noticed right away if there was a difference like _that_ in you. Whatever the Truth did to merge them with you, it did so flawlessly. Which reminds me... How much alchemy did you learn when you were thrown through the Gate?"

They were going to need to know where to start, if they were going to be of any help to these two. And they would definitely need a guide of some kind, lest they try something too much too soon and end up paying the price. He knew they weren't idiots, but alchemy was a totally different beast than the magic they were used to...

Cinders' gaze went to the sky as she began to search her brain for what exactly she had learned. The two girls peered at each other, before beginning to explain most of what they had learned. A lot of it was basic to intermediate type skills, though Cinders own powers seemed to be geared more towards bio-alchemy.

"It's interesting that we seem to keep the equivalent of what we knew before," Cinders said, looking down at her palms. "I was a healer for my tribe, and I had some rudimentary knowledge of machines, from what abandoned vehicles I occassionally found. And although Vanessa was a spirit talker, that doesn't seem to be possible in any way here besides human transmutation... And that just _sounds_ like a bad idea."

"I have some basic understanding of how to manipulate the wind," Vanessa said, looking thoughtful. "Which is kind of ironic, considering everything. Oh well, I can actually breath fire in my true form if I really need it..."

Hmm, that was good. They seemed to have a very solid foundation to work off of, ranging basics in most topics... And then a couple of specialities.

"Air and bio alchemy..." Al mused, sliding his hands into his pockets and ducking his head down as he thought. "Brother and I can do most types of alchemy. We don't really specialize, we just learn anything and everything useful or interesting for us. We sort of grasp things a little differently than most alchemists."

Boy, was that an underestimate. Every alchemist saw things a little differently, within the boundaries of the laws and arrays, of course... But the Elric brothers were on a different plane. They had naturally been brilliant, even when they were little, but then... Ed had lost his leg, and paid with Envy's Stone to pass through the Gate when he used it to exit Gluttony's pocket dimension stomach, and Al had given his entire body for what he knew. They had gained knowledge equal to that and shared it between themselves. The Gate was strictly fair, in the case of knowledge exchange; it had never showed them the same things twice. And the _depth_ of what they had learned from that godforsaken thing was _incredible_.

Arrays were more or less short hand for them now. Some of the designs they came up with on a regular basis would take other alchemists months to figure out or create for themselves. That was when they even bothered with translating the far less limited and instinctual process that happened in their minds when they clapped hands, into actual arrays. Part of their skill and unpredictability came from the sheer _flexibility_ and _creativity_ available in being able to transmute on the fly, with their minds and bodies as tools, and the experience that came with fighting that way. Teacher and Mustang were the only ones who could ever quite understand what they meant. Now, perhaps these two would be able to, as well.

And then there were the things they had combined with alkahestry... Long range attacks? Those were _fun_.

"It might not be a good idea for us to be your only teachers, since you seem to be geared for more specialized paths," Edward admitted grudgingly. "We don't know some of the more intricate things you'll want to learn later on. We could probably find out, but it would be good for you to learn from different people. Plus, we've never tried to teach alchemy before. For all we know, we suck at it. I _am_ rather happy to hear about your fire breath, though," he added and glanced sideways at Vanessa, a wicked smirk curling his lips. "I wonder how General Bastard would match up against a _dragon_."

Al brought a hand up to his mouth to hide his smile, or perhaps hold in a snicker. "I think most of Amestris would pay to see that," he said, voice wobbling with mirth, and Ed barked a laugh.

Cinders shrugged a bit, looking unphased by that idea. "It would be best for us in the long run, anyways. Unless someone makes me mad. Then things will probably look like I should've stayed studying with you two." The werejaguar grinned, and crossed her arms. "If it turns out I still have vestiges of Rage, then that will end up being a really bad thing or a really good thing... Bad for others, good for me."

"Lord help us if _you_ still have Rage. If it turns out that this has become a genetic ability rather than a mystical one, than I don't ever want to be around the poor sap that pisses you off."

Cinders shrugged. "I doubt it. But that doesn't mean I can't get mad on my own."

"Anyways," the dragon chuckled, looking towards Ed. "'General Bastard'? My, I wonder what he did to earn that title."

"Probably pissed in his Cheerios."

"Cinders, I highly doubt they have Cheerios here."

The werejaguar shrugged. "How should we know? What if this is an alternate dimension, and everything is the same with different names?" When Vanessa gave her a skeptical glare, the werecat grinned and held her hands up.

"We'd have to find out what year it is first-which reminds me," Vanessa turned to the brothers. "What year _is_ it? And what sort of calender system do you work off of?" If they shared the same year, then maybe. But hopefully they at least used a similar calender system. She was not counting on it, but a tiny spark of hope bloomed in her.

The corner of Ed's eye twitched at the jabs involving his cheerios - whatever the hell they were - and General Bastard pissing in them, and he was grinding his teeth in that way that Alphonse recognized instantly as a precursor to an outburst.

He clamped his hand on Ed's shoulder and leaned around his much shorter brother, effectively cutting him off, and grinned cheerily at Vanessa.

"It's 1918," he informed her. "And we run off of a twelve month or fifty two week per year cycle. January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August -" and that was as far as he got before Ed growled, actually growled, deeply and animalistically enough to immitate Cinders' cat form, and shoved his brother back hard enough with his automail arm to make him stumble.

"What the hell are cheerios?" He demanded of Cinders, scowling.

Vanessa was grinning, glad to find out that they used the same calender system. The only thing that was nagging at her was the year... It was a paradox, really: she was born in 1993. And now it was 1918.

And then Edward demanded Cinders a question, and the two shapeshifters looked at each other before they both burst out laughing. Cinders even had the beginnings of tears in her eyes before she wiped them away and straightened up. "Cheerios are a type of cold cereal, that's all. Why so mad? Such a short fuse, sheesh."

Vanessa pressed her fingers to her mouth to hide the rest of her laughter, and she turned to Alphonse. "I'm glad to find what year it is...and we use the same type of calender system, down to the month names. September, October, November, December, right? Heh... The only thing that worries me is that I am now negative seventy-five years old, apparently."

"I AM _NOT SHORT_, YOU GRK-"

Al had rolled his eyes at the the beginning of the shouting and acted accordingly. He neatly tossed an arm around Ed's neck, hauled his brother's back against his chest, clapped his free hand over his mouth before the insults could start, then moved swiftly from his neck to pin his arms. Edward had grown up quite a lot with the diplomacy required in Xing, but this -_one_- thing never failed to get him riled... At least he didn't launch into those ridiculous full-blown rants anymore.

"Please excuse my Brother," he said with a sigh, and gave Cinders a wry grin. He hadn't even paused in his stride, merely hoisting the squirming, red-faced Ed up and continuing on, automail weight and all. "You're not the only one with Rage issues. His height has always been a, er, trigger point."

A muffled, "Let me GO AL, DAMNIT," could be heard snarled around the hand clasped around the elder Elric's mouth.

"I will, if you promise not to start a brawl with Cinders. You know your automail probably can't take too much more damage before we get it checked out, anyway."

Ed deflated at that reminder of Winry, and grumbled something inaudible that Al took as a surrender. He let his brother go, and Ed immediately hunched his shoulders, glowering at the road. He was _not_ looking forward to their inevitable meeting with her, for so many reasons, the very least of which was the wrench beating he was likely to get for the condition of his limbs.

Cinders had merely grinned at Edward as he got angry, and she did not bother to stop herself from laughing when Alponse grabbed ahold of his brother. "Our Rage was not so easily triggered," the cat-beast boasted, and Vanessa sighed.

"Oh Cinders. Our Rage was a tool of destruct-"

"Righteous fury!" The other girl snarled, and the boys saw a vein in her forehead bulge for a second before Vanessa surrendered with a gesture.

"Alright, alright." Obviously, some of their previous mystical benefits had different meanings between the two of them, though Vanessa seemed ready to drop it just as quickly. "Anyways...since I'm nineteen, I suppose I should get used to the fact that I am now born in 1899. Man, that's so weird."

"Wait," Cinders flicked some of her hair out of her face, interrupting the talking dragon. "What's automail?"

Al watched them go back and forth about their ideals on the Rage with interest, then started when Cinders asked about automail. "Oh. It's a highly advanced biomechanical prosthetic. It's not really that common in most places, because of the proceedures it requires to instal... I think Amestris has the most people fitted with it, especially in the town of Rush Valley, where it was developed, and in the military, due to all the wars we had years back... we're the leading experts in the world on it, as well as alchemy," he added, figuring they should know this.

Ed finally looked up, and peeled off his right glove without prompting. He held his hand up, flexing the fingers to show them. He grinned a little, and it was sincere, if weak. "My mechanic happens to be the best in the world. This replaced my arm and shoulder, and my left leg is the same, up to the knee."

"That mechanic is going to kill you in cold blood when she sees the state your limbs are in."

"It's not my fault there are no decent mechanics in Xing!"

Lan Fan was one of the very few people in Xing with automail, and the mechanics who _did_ know anything were not nearly up-to-date enough to work on Winry's specialized 'masterpieces', so Ed's automail had suffered for it, notorious as he was for his lack of attention to maintenance.

Vanessa had tilted her head, looking at it from afar, but Cinders was far more interested in the automail. "That is so _cool_. Our world had nothing like this... Not this advanced, anyways." She ooed and awed at it for a few more moments before she lost interest (typical feline) and looked away.

"So this country..." Vanessa appeared thoughtful, her thumb and finger holding up her chin, with her elbow resting on the other arm. Her gaze was on the ground as they walked, her brain turning. "The leading on both automatil _and_ alchemy?" She looked at Cinders. "Seems like this world's equivalent of America."

"Ugh," the cat grunted. "They both even start with 'A-M-E'. Cool. It doesn't sound like it's quite as passive as the U.S. though." Cinders narrowed her eyes, and her gaze slid to the brothers. "What is there to know about this country's military? From the 'General Bastard' comment earlier, I take it you know one guy at least personally."

"It's not like it's hard to know a member of the military personally, Cinders. You're so cynical. Don't you remember Joseph?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just asking."

Edward rolled his eyes, but let Cinders get her fill of his automail before he tugged his glove back on. He was used to getting attention for it, but not quite like this; most people were more horrified by it, or wanted to ask awkward questions (or were creepily obsessed, in the case of the people of Rush Valley), but she just seemed to appreciate it for what it was. That was kind of... nice.

"_Know_ someone from the military?" Ed snorted. "We _are_ military. General Bastard is our commanding officer. Major Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist," he reintroduced himself with rank and title, smirking a little.

"Major Alphonse Elric, the Animus Alchemist," Al did the same, smiling faintly apologetically. "We're State Alchemists. Amestris is a military-governed country. And yes, we were very warlike, before our new Fuhrer came into power three years ago. He's steadily working at creating a new policy of peace and defense."

"State Alchemists?" Cinders snapped her jaw shut, and glowered over at Vanessa. This was awesome. Were their feelings about these two misplaced? The look on the werejaguar's face spoke volumes to the weredragon who had known her all of her life. A secret conversation had taken place between the two of them in the span of half a moment, and Vanessa shrugged.

Were these two going to take them to their military? Vanessa knew that this is what Cinders was worried about, but somehow, the Mokole did not think that they would do that. They did not dress like they were officials, which meant they were either off duty or undercover. And while she did not know anything about this country's military, she suspected they would be getting more of the strange gut feelings if something bad was to happen.

"So," Vanessa clasped her hands together behind her back. "The Fullmetal and the Animus Alchemists. That sounds very interesting. How long have you two been in the military for?" From the looks of them, they could not be much older than her and Cinders, if they even were older. And if the military here is anything like many of the militaries back home, they probably would not have been in it for more than a couple of years.

"Ah... Well, we were both special exceptions. I joined when I was twelve, and Al was eleven. He came along with me everywhere, but he didn't take the test officially until he was fifteen. So, on paper, it's been seven years for me and three for him," Ed scratched his cheek with his automail finger, not quite looking at either of them. He really was _not_ going to get into just why they had signed up for military life so early. Perhaps the usual spiel about what State Alchemists got would explain it away.

"State Alchemists get a different deal than the usual military bozos, as long as they can keep up with their annual assessments and prove they're being useful. We get a fancy ironic title," he snorted and patted his right bicep with his left hand, which may indicate to them he'd had at least the automail arm even before he'd joined the military, "plenty of monetary, material and literary resources, a rank of major..."

And then there was that lovely nickname, 'dog of the military.' Things were changing now, even if memories were long, and opinions and trusts were slow to take... Edward's reputation had done a great deal of good for the State Alchemists as well, and people generally reacted very well to him and his brother. But there were still a lot of people who were of very mixed feelings at best, over State Alchemists in general.

They'd had it easy with General Bastard. That was the only thing good about working under the smug idiot. He had protected them from the harsher side of military life, and let them do more or less as they pleased, and for that he _was_ grateful, even if it was never mentioned between them.

And that reminded him, they were going to have to talk to the girls about the two laws alchemists had to follow - he'd seen that they already had a good attitude on the human transmutation one, after Cinders' comment, but they also needed to know not to make counterfeit gold... No need for them to be arrested so soon after their arrival. He had no doubt Cinders would probably find herself in custody at some point for assault charges due to that Rage of hers, but there was no need to hurry things along unnecessarily.

"Huh..." Vanessa peered at the two boys, but not with skepticism or anything. No, she was rather impressed with that information. Well, impressed with the fact that they had joined the military at such a young age (and even more surprised with the fact that the military had accepted them). Cinders looked a great deal less impressed than Vanessa did, though.

"So you joined when you were barely an adolescent for monetary gain, research materials and or rank? I don't buy it."

"Cinders..."

The werejaguar waved her off. "I don't care if we are on a different world. It is insanely stupid for a military to accept a kid into their ranks. Even the Bete don't force their young into fighting until they're absolutely sure they can handle themselves, despite how violent our lives are." As the boys could see, Cinders was the brash, must-question-everything type. Vanessa appeared to be far more thoughtful of everything, though, as she did now, her eyes narrowed as her thoughts raced through her head.

"Perhaps we shouldn't question them too much," the weredragon sighed, crossing her arms. Cinders growled, and was about to say something, but Vanessa shook her head. "You're too suspicious of _everything_."

"I'm not the one who decided to blab about our predicament," the jaguar mumbled agitatedly. Cinders had merely gone along with Vanessa's judgement. Her own had been fairly amicable, of course, but the dragon shifter had been the one in a human body at the time.

Edward barred his teeth in an approxamation of a grin, golden eyes bright and dangerous. "Now _there's_ that suspicion I was wondering about."

Ed really didn't blame Cinders for her reaction. If he and Al were in the opposite situation and it was suddenly sprung on them that they were being escorted by a couple of military guys, they would be itching between the shoulder blades, anxious and antsy about the targets they feared would be painted on their backs.

It was still fun to mess with her a little.

Al sighed exasperatedly. "Don't make it worse, Brother."

Ed huffed and placed his arms akimbo, smirking. "If you insist. Look, Cinders, our reasons for enlisting as kids are our own. I didn't lie to you; the things I mentioned absolutely were a part of it, and they really did accept us so young. We're just that good. But forget all of that. We're on your side here, and you seemed to know it earlier. We were military half an hour ago, too. Our objective hasn't changed because we told you about our jobs. That would be a pretty stupid strategy, wouldn't it?"

"You don't have to worry about us trying to capture you, or anything," Alphonse said with a small, earnest smile. "We really do want to help, I swear! We've got two weeks before we're due to be reassigned, so we have time to help you out. After that, or even before, if you decide it would be better for you to go, you can chose to do as you like."

"And you should know we've never been particularly loyal dogs," Edward snorted derisively, crossing his arms. "Growing up in the military shows you all sides of it, and I know you guys don't deserve to be outed to them. Who the hell cares if you're shapeshifters from another world? As far as we're concerned you're just a couple of girls we met on the road who happened to be interesting because they could perform alchemy the same way we can. We had fun trekking around the South for two weeks and trading alchemic secrets," he finished with a snarky smirk.

Vanessa shrugged a bit, "Cinders is just suspicious because she doesn't have wings she can escape on." In response to that, the jaguar punched her in the arm and grunted a bit, but she looked much more calm now. She just wanted some reassurance, Vanessa knew that. And she got it, so now she has nothing to worry about.

"And what if we decide it's better to stick around?" Vanessa asked after a couple more moments of thought, after Edward had said they had never been particularly loyal dogs. Because, like it or not, that is likely what it would come too. Something told Vanessa that these two had a wealth of information to dig through, and while Cinders would not be able to appreciate it in the same way she would, it would be a good thing to have.

"Watch," Cinders began to bark in laughter, "we're going to end up getting tangled into all sorts of messes if we stick with them too long. Just like when you had that brief affair with Melano!"

"Please don't remind me of that," Vanessa whined, and the werecat grinned.

"Ah, well..." The brothers shared a glance, and Alphonse gave them a sheepish look. "It would definitely take more than two weeks, if we were going to teach you properly, instead of give you a crash course, but... We're rather well known for our misadventures, to be honest."

Ed tilted his head back and laughed with ironic amusement. "_Misadventures_? That's putting it lightly."

"Whatever you want to call it, you're likely to get caught up in it if you're with us."

"Misadventures are fine," Cinders said with a toothy grin. "We've gotten into plenty of misadventures ourselves. Including a dealing with a particular vam-"

"Cinders!" Vanessa's cheeks were heating up now at the teasing the werejaguar had been lashing on her. That made it twice now in the last five minutes. What was next?

"Sorry." The cat whistled innocently, and they stopped messing around when Edward turned his serious voice on

"In all seriousness..." Ed's amusement faded, as he checked is mental timetable. "It really depends on what our next assignment is. We just got back from two years abroad, so I don't think they'll send us off again just yet... We have a lot desk work to do. Damn it."

Recent reports and piles of paperwork, assloads of research and projects on alkahestry to compile... There was going to be a ton of book work, much to Ed's displeasure. The research organization he didn't mind so much - loved it, really - but he'd have to see how much else of it he could foist off on Al. Thankfully they didn't have to worry about it much for two more weeks if they didn't want to. Al probably would, neat freak that he was.

"That, and we need to make our way toward Rush Valley A.S.A.P.," Al reminded his brother gently.

Edward groaned, but didn't protest. He knew he needed more than a little maintenance on his automail if he wanted to be of any real use with training and sparring.

The girls gave him their full attention as he and Al spoke, and they nodded. "Desk work is never fun. I'm glad I've lived in a rainforest for most of my life."

* * *

AN: A bit of...an info-dumpy chapter, I guess. But it's been a month since I posted the last, so I better not leave anyone waiting. Sorry, work's a killer. :P The next chapter will be more exciting, I swear.


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